When life gives you lemons....

.....make cake!

That's not how the saying goes, I know, but it's still tasty. I thought I would share a picture of the cake I made for my son's 4th birthday.















This is a cake I've always wanted to make, so when my grandmother sent a box of oranges and Meyer lemons from my great-grandmother's citrus trees, it seemed like the perfect time to do it! Normally, when faced with an abundance of lemons, I make lemon curd. I have plenty of jars on hand right now, so I zested and juiced 8 Meyer lemons and froze all of it in ice cube trays. Two tablespoons fill one ice cube space and a tablespoon of zest with another of juice will make nearly one cube. Having those on hand really cut down on prep time for this cake! And the lemon curd from the pantry completed the cake as filling between layers, so making this from scratch was far easier than I could possibly imagined. I found my recipe for this cake here. Let me tell you, the frosting was the best I have ever made, and I'm guessing that's all thanks to the stand mixer that my husband bought me for Christmas!

You cannot go wrong with this cake! I will definitely be making this one again. As a special project, I saved the seeds from the lemons and planted them in trays. My g-grandmother is nearing 102 years old and there is no telling what will happen to her house when she should pass away (which could be years away). Meyer lemons are easy to grow indoors and with any luck, in 5 to 10 years, I will be making this cake again with lemons from my own trees!
That would be a really special keepsake to have around to remind me of my grandmother!

Fuzzy Bum

The wool diaper covers I made while I was pregnant are finally getting use! In fact, I love them. I wasnt sure that I would use them at all. I had tried cloth diapers with this baby during his first month and he went thru several in an hour, which discouraged me and so I gave it up but, thankfully we had a day when we ran low on diapers and resorted to cloth and rediscovered how easy these covers make everything! They stay dry, so much better than my fleece lined snap covers, and they are super soft. And did I mention some of them are cashmere? Oh yes. And who among us has not dreamt of having our bottoms cushioned in cashmere? For the price of a bag of sweaters from the thrift store, that no one was going to wear anyway, I have the most lovely diaper covers. I assure you, I chose sweaters that no one would voluntarily wear, so dont lament the sweaters that were sacrificed. Here is a picture of Liam wearing one:

I hand sewed these while stuck in bed with swollen feet during my last trimester, so at some point I will have to finish them properly I suppose. And for each cover I make, there is a matching pair of fuzzy leggings waiting to be stitched together. Here is where I bought my pattern (this is also where I bought the sling pattern).

They have lots of good things, and some are downloads, so no waiting for shipping!

My plan is to use these on the days when I am home and use disposable when I'm out and about, but that could change as he gets older. I am blessed to have a father-in-law who insists on buying our diapers, removing one of my reasons for cloth diapers. I do think potty training will come easier if I use cloth though. Anyway, I'm pleased with the results of this project.

Who's the Boss?

So our drive home from bible club tonight took an interesting turn - in a good way. One of the boys asked why I didn't pick up hitchhikers and I explained that their father has asked me not to, so I don't. We quickly came onto the subject of Dad being the "head" of the family and what that means.
I saw an opportunity and I took it, and began to expound on how Dad being the head of our family is exactly like Jesus being the head of the "body" of believers, since both are made up of many members. And like any body, not one part can function without the head to direct it.

We discussed that the head contains the brain, our thinking organ, and also houses 4 of our 5 senses. The head sees, hears, and smells what is around us and commands the body appropriately, whether it be to run from trouble or to sit and enjoy a slice of cake. It considers all options and then orders (both in the sense of command and alignment) the rest of the body accordingly. It consumes food and water and brings it to the body for dispersal. Daddy does that for the family. He considers all the information around him and then makes a decision that is best for all of us. And Jesus does that for all believers. Not one of us can see what is coming at us in the future, but He can. Not one of us can know the fullness of existence (creation), but He does. Without Him as the head, leading, bring us food, we become like any other body separate from its head - Lifeless.

The one sensation that we share with God is touch. We can feel Him as He feels us. A cheek can feel a hand's caress. We have a sense of what is there and that it belongs to our own body. Touch is by far the most rewarding and wonderful sense. Who turns down a hug? Think about that - not only does He know you, see you, hear you, speak to you, but He FEELS you. Gives me goosebumps!

It was a pretty awesome conversation to be having with my children!

The best part is that one child asked, "Well, who is the heart of our family then?" Well, Jesus is! Not one of us can live without Him.

1 Corinthians 12:12 The body is a unit, thought it is mad up of many parts...
Ephesians 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Ephesians 6:23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church...

Find the hidden postings!

I decided to post old entries that were sitting in limbo in my saved drafts. If you scroll back thru, you will probably find some you havent read and maybe even some you will enjoy!


In other news, baby #4 is 3 months today! He smiles, laughs, coos and sticks his tongue out! He's pretty terrific. Even with all the crying :)

New Years

No blog is complete without the writer's New Years Resolutions. Maybe you disagree. Eh.

The big resolution around our house this year is "SAVE MONEY" Not so much because of the national recession, though its a good idea in general to learn to be more content with less and trim the budget, but mainly because we want to buy a house and need to save up a down payment. So we have resolved to
A) Not buy fast food at all - If we can go a month without buying drive-thru food, then we will reward the whole family by going out for one meal at a restaurant.
B) Buy only the groceries that we NEED, which means not buying food at the store just because we are having a craving or the item would save 2 minutes with a chore.

These are 2 little things that have already made a HUGE impact on our budget! I have spent less than $200 on groceries this month so far, which is about what I spend in a week normally. I know, its only 2 weeks into the month, but imagine that if I can keep that up, we can potentially save $4oo just from trimming the grocery bill! And if you add the impulsive drive-thru purchases to that, it probably comes closer to $600 saved in one month. Pretty impressive.

Yesterday we did a social studies project that required no prep on my part and made my children a more involved part of our goal. I asked each child to tell me the difference between need and want (the 3 year old chose to go play in his room, as he is not required to do all projects yet). I then asked the oldest 2 to go look through all the cupboards and cabinets, refrigerator and freezers to see what we have in the house to eat. They named off all that they could. I then asked them if we "needed" to buy groceries, or do we have enough in the house to eat? It was good for them to see that we really do have an abundance of food in our house and Im hoping it will help them understand that just because you want something, does not mean you need it. Edward made the observation that we have enough food to last a month in our house. And he is right! I could probably go a month without buying food. I would have to get REALLY creative with meals, which is always challenging but doable. For instance, last night for dinner we had pizza, but I didnt feel like going under the house (where we have shelves) to get tomato sauce, I didnt have any mozzarella cheese and there was no pepperoni, so our pizza went something like this:

1 lb boule dough (recipe here: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx) , or other pizza/bread dough you have on hand.
1 1/2 tbsp butter
minced garlic (out of a jar)
basil (in the winter, I use herbs that come in the tubes, keeps for a long time, no time to chop)
1/2 zucchini
1/2 summer squash
5 sausage links (the kind that is frozen, pre-cooked. This time it was Banquet, which my husband chose, but normally I buy Johnson Farms frozen breakfast sausages - no BHA, BHT or TBHQ or other preservatives)
3/4 cup shredded cheese - I happened to have used a Southwest mix that was pre-shredded.

1. Preheat oven to 450 F
2. Roll out dough onto parchment paper that has been sprinkled with cornmeal (or hand toss if you are that good)
3. Mix butter, garlic and basil. Spread evenly onto crust, leaving the edges butter free.
4. Slice zucchini and squash into thin slices. Saute with olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes.
5. Slice frozen sausages, add to squash mix. Continue to cook for 3 or 4 minutes.
6. Scatter squash mixture onto pizza crust. Top with Cheese
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and starting to golden. Serves 4

Not hard, is it? You could totally add any veggie or meat to that and it would work. Kids tried some new stuff, we didnt spend any money and it was great!

The last thing we did for school was discuss where food comes from. There are 6 ways to get food: Hunting, Fishing, Grow it, Keep animal (chickens, goats, etc), Forage and lastly, the grocery store. We also discussed how the food/money cycle works between us and the farmers that grow the food. The most important part of our discussion was focused on those first 5 ways to get food. Most of them cost us no or very little money. It is these things that will be the focus of our children's education. We live in Alaska and there is very little excuse for not being able to feed yourself. And what's an education if you learn no skills for caring for yourself? I want my kids to be able to provide for themselves if needed and not be burdened with the modern "convenience" of money and wasted food. Providing for yourself also builds confidence. Its just the beginning to becoming a sure-footed adult.

So our kids will hopefully be more willing to help us meet our goal. They all agree we need a little more space and that means a bigger house. They are getting better at eating what is given to them without complaining also. If we can stick with it, we could have the down payment before summer. It does mean that I wont get to take any trips outside this year (major bummer, since I really wanted to go to Ireland this year) but if I have to choose between a new house or a vacation, I choose the house!

I have an ongoing list of the foods in our house. I may occasionally post recipes I come up with and Im open to recipes you might want to share.

Wrinkles!!

My 30th birthday is coming up. About 2 months off. Last week I noticed wrinkles under my eyes and this morning I see that there are two little lines around my mouth, one on each side of my smile! I dont think that Im just hyper aware about things like that right now, but that they have slowly made a permanent home on my face and are now significant enough to bother me. There must have been a message sent out to every cell that Im going to be 30, we can let things slide! At least they are wrinkles from smiling and not frowning!

I have always said that I wouldn't be upset about growing older. I'm happy that I've survived my twenties! And I love birthdays, mine especially. I am looking forward to turning 30, but who knows - maybe I will be more overwhelmed by it later, maybe not.

I have lived a lot of life before turning 30. I moved away from home at 18, only to come back 2 years later at 20. Since then I have married, had 4 kids, learned SO many new skills (a list would look like Im bragging), moved 7 times, had 7 cars and FINALLY have a bed that doesnt hurt my back. Ive lost a total of 110 pounds and gained a total of 150 (not so proud of that one). I have finally learned how to apologize, how to control my temper and control my tongue. I can save money! I have grown in a lot of ways and learned much more about God. I have had to say good bye to family and friends who have died. Ten years is no small amount of time.

I have a few more things I want to accomplish in these last 2 months, however.
First, I want to take a Hunter's Education Class and get my hunting license. Second, I want a passport and to FINALLY apply for my Irish citizenship. Those are last on my list. Not even weight loss ranks above those.

As for the next decade, I'm already planning and I'm excited. Not so excited about wrinkles, but I'll try to wear them as a badge. I will not accept gray hair yet. Try me in 10 years.

LAST attempt..... seriously

Okay, I lied. About half thru the night on January 1st, I had a change of heart on the quitting nursing thing. It would be best for Liam's stomach if I nursed exclusively, so Im going to give it one more week. Im going to do everything as close to perfectly as possible and if things still arent working, then I have to surrender.

Is it so lame that some part of my identity can be so damaged at failing at this?

oh well



UPDATE, January 14:

Im still pumping off and on, but it looks like my supply is finally up! It seems to slack after a day or two of only nursing, but it is easily fixed by pumping when I have time. For the first time ever, I have milk in the freezer thats from me! Im so proud, its silly. 'Bout time!